


unfold

by adreamaloud, daneorange (adreamaloud)



Category: Rookie Blue
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2013-09-29
Packaged: 2017-12-27 23:25:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/984892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adreamaloud/pseuds/adreamaloud, https://archiveofourown.org/users/adreamaloud/pseuds/daneorange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>truth be told, the best thing about gail is that holly doesn't know her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	unfold

**Author's Note:**

> all errors are mine.

 

 Admittedly, the best thing about Gail is that Holly doesn't know her. 

*

Truth be told, Holly wasn’t even expecting Gail to ever speak to her again outside of what is completely necessary, not after what happened at the wedding, so when the call comes Holly feels her heart stilling for a moment.

_Gail._ Holly answers her phone with shaky hands. _Yes, you should come. Yes, it would be fun._

_Yes._

*

Truth be told, Holly got ready for the awkward -- while she isn't really of the habit of kissing co-workers she'd just met, she knows a thing or two about kissing girls, in general. Specifically, girls who aren't exactly into girls.

She'd run that scene over in over in her head, and every time she just ends with the same conclusion: _Shouldn't have; should've known better._

It's frustrating; Holly asks herself how that could have gone better, but then again she remembers the look on Gail's face and just -- _what was that_? Confusion? Anger? Epiphany?

_God, please. Let it be epiphany._

Holly looks up, focuses on her grip and swings. The ache on her arm and thigh tells her she's probably been out here for too long, but then again -- this has been such a _day_ , and at least in here, she calls the shots. _Look, grip, swing._ Some things need not be so complicated.

The rattling of the metal fence distracts her for a moment, and when she turns around, she sees Gail’s grinning face. _Here we go._ Holly offers the bat right away, to which Gail immediately responds with a look that says _I don’t think so._

That Gail isn’t athletic confuses Holly for a moment. _Don’t you guys like running around and hitting things,_ she wonders, but in the end she opts for: “It won’t kill you to try something new.”

She knows the minute Gail steps up that this is about to end badly, and true enough, the bat slips from Gail’s hand the second she goes for it.

_You adorable idiot,_ Holly just thinks, laughter breaking out of her chest. Gail turns to her, all smiles and giggles. _Look at you._ “I told you,” Gail’s saying under her helmet. “I _told_ you.”

“Okay. So it _might_ kill you,” Holly teases back.

The moment feels a lot longer than it actually lasts – she and Gail and all this laughter ringing around them.

What a sound, that.

*

Gail walks out for a brief moment and Holly looks on, knowing full well she just needs time to recover. Holly herself needs it – to get all of the laughter out of her chest, to start breathing normally again. She hasn’t laughed like that in _ages_ – so hard that the underside of her chest ached.

When Gail walks back in, Holly tries not to grin too widely. “You all right?”

“I’m starving,” Gail just says. She lasts all of two minutes trying not to laugh, and in the end, Holly laughs along, unable to help herself.

Somewhere, Gail manages to come close enough to touch, leaning closer to hold onto Holly’s hand lightly.

“Let’s get out of here,” Holly offers, gripping Gail’s hand back like it were the most natural thing.

*

Holly lets her choose the restaurant, and tries telling herself, _Of course not, this is not a date._ Even if Gail did call her to ask what she was doing tonight; even if it’s past midnight and they’ve been at this for the past couple of hours, drunkenly discussing paternity tests.

Even if Holly herself has started looking at this like _that_.

_Oh come on, Stewart,_ she chides herself, watching amusedly as Gail holds a brief stare-down with her nth shot of tequila. _She’s not even into girls._ “You already drunk, Peck?”

“Me?” asks Gail, pushing her chin off the table and reaching for the shot. She knocks it back with a soft hiss, clumsily reaching for the lemon rind with her empty hand. “Of course not.” There’s an adorable drunken blush that sweeps through her face, and Holly’s beer bottle nearly slips from her hand at the sight of it.

“Really?” says Holly, taking a careful sip from her beer. “Betting you wouldn’t be able to get into a cab, for starters.”

Gail gives her a lopsided grin. “Betting you would be _correct_.”

Holly rolls her eyes, finishing her drink before paying for two. “We should probably call it a night.”

“Already?” Gail whines, but she lets Holly take her by the wrist anyway; lets her pull her out of the restaurant and out to the street, where the night wind is surprisingly cold.

At the curb, Holly pauses to look at Gail. _It’s like unfolding a map,_ she thinks. _Where do I go next?_

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Gail asks, and it startles Holly slightly, how _sober_ she suddenly sounds. “Are you planning something again, because—”

Laughing, Holly pulls her in; the surprise nearly knocks Gail off-balance. Like this, Holly can feel how warm Gail is after all that alcohol, their faces close enough to touch.

“You do remember it was exactly like this the last time,” Holly murmurs against Gail’s slightly parted lips, trying to hold her gaze. “Right?” Gail only nods weakly, and in the briefest of moments, Holly sees that look on Gail again – like she were actually _afraid_ of something.

(It sets Holly back several years: She doesn’t remember much of the first girl, apart from _that_ look on her face right before they first kissed – wide-eyed with wonder and surprise and that tinge of necessary fright out of having to do something never done before. It had always been one of Holly’s favorite memories.)

Holly blinks. “Gail?” Even when she loosens her grip, Gail doesn’t move, not even a centimeter. She’s frozen in place; whether it’s because she’s absolutely taken or absolutely terrified, Holly can’t determine. “ _Gail._ ”

“ _What?_ ” Holly catches a tinge of annoyance there in Gail’s soft retort. “Just do it already. Or something.”

_Well, there’s something I hadn’t considered,_ Holly just thinks, smile getting wider. She’s been completely blindsided here: Gail had been waiting for it, and this throws Holly completely.

Holly pushes herself off Gail slowly, hands smoothing Gail’s shoulders and rubbing outwards, like she were dusting Gail’s top and clearing it of imaginary dust. “You’re completely sober now, aren’t you,” she just says, staring at a spot on Gail’s shirt.

“Kind of,” says Gail. “Is this your talent or something? _Sobering_ people up?”

“Kind of,” says Holly in reply. A cold wind blows past, and with the space now between them, Holly can’t help the shiver that goes through her.

“You’re good at that,” Gail says.

“So I am.” _The moment’s still here,_ Holly thinks, looking away after catching herself staring at Gail’s lips. She’d expected to lose it when they parted, but Gail’s still breathing hard, so. “My car—”

It’s Gail’s turn to be flustered. “Of course,” she says, taking a small step back. “Should I walk you—how do these things—”

_Oh._ “You don’t have to—but if you want to—” _Fucking hell._ Holly finds herself chuckling softly at how _young_ this feels. “What do _you_ want, Gail?” 

“Well.” Gail clears her throat, straightening her spine and standing tall. “ _Police_ and all, so.”

“ _You’re_ pulling the police card now?” asks Holly, amused. “But you’re currently off-duty, _officer_.”

“Come on,” Gail just says, softly. She gives Holly a little nod as she shoves her hands into her pockets. “I’ll walk you.”

“Well. If you insist.” Holly falls in step beside Gail, inching closer until their shoulders touch. The streets are dry and quiet, and when Gail herself steps a bit closer, Holly goes ahead, loops her arm around Gail’s and holds on.

Already it feels like something Holly could get used to; like something she’d rather not be without.

*

Gail declines the ride home. “Would save you that awkward moment before I leave your car,” she says, grinning at Holly as she leans against the driver’s side window.

Holly looks up at her. _This feels like I’m getting pulled over._ “What awkward moment?”

“You know—the part where you decide whether you’d have to kiss me good night or something.”

“You think we’re not having that moment now?”

“Ah, so is this how it usually goes?”

“Yeah,” Holly nods, swallowing. _Come on, Stewart. We got this far._ “Want to know how it usually ends?”

Gail narrows her eyes at her, before proceeding to lower herself further upon the window, both forearms resting now and her face level with Holly’s. “Sure,” she just says coolly. “How?”

_Too easy,_ Holly thinks, laughing as she plants a kiss on Gail’s cheek – firm and quick and _final_. “Good night, Officer,” she says after, watching as Gail retreats, relishing the blush on her cheek.

*

Gail’s message comes almost as soon as Holly opens the door to her apartment: _Home. Home?_

_Home,_ Holly texts back, tossing her keys on the living room table. There’s an unmistakable _ease_ about the whole thing, and somewhere, something starts feeling familiar inside Holly’s chest.

_You should let me beat you at something some time,_ says Gail.

_Like what?_

When the message comes, Holly has this absent smile on her face. _Have you ever shot a gun before?_

_Come surprise me,_ is all Holly says in response, still smiling. #


End file.
